EAC Common Market

Statement by Ambassador Juma V. Mwapachu, Secretary General of the East African Community at the opening of the meeting of the High Level Task Force on the Negotiations for the EAC Common Market.

"Hon Chairperson,

Distinguished Members of the High Level Task Force,

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is with great pleasure that I address this important meeting of the High Level Task Force on the Negotiations for the establishment of the EAC Common Market. The EAC Summit has called upon us to move expeditiously towards an EAC Common Market. Therefore, your role in this venture can only be considered of historic and strategic importance to our region. Live up to this expectation.

As you are aware, the Common Market is the next most significant step in the EAC regional integration process after the landmark signing of the Treaty in 1999, launching of the Customs Union in 2005; and the enlargement of the EAC in 2007. With the implementation of the Customs Union and other provisions of the Treaty, the EAC has made steady progress in the past three years and, today, enjoys a substantial body of agreements of legal import that have vastly eased cross-border movement of our people, of trading and other economic transactions, including trading in shares and mergers and acquisitions.

There is an air of energetic confidence in the business and economic community in East Africa that has been much fostered by the Customs Union’s regionally administered CET and trade policy as well as the EAC harmonized Standards for goods traded within the region. Private sector operators with cross-border business operations are able to exploit the comparative and competitive advantages offered by regional business locations, without having to factor in the differences in tariff protection rates and varying business transaction costs arising from overbearing customs clearance formalities. The enactment of an EAC Competition law that overrides domestic law in so far as cross-border economic activities are concerned has provided the base for a just level playing field.

Indeed, even as we begin this process towards the establishment of the EAC Common Market, there are already many aspects of the Common Market that are in place among them the East African Passport, the convertibility of national currencies and the harmonized vehicle transit procedures that have stimulated phenomenal growth of cross-border business. Great advances have also been made in the harmonization of policies over key areas of regional integration, notably in the fields of health, education and training, legal and judicial affairs, tourism, civil aviation, law and order, investment promotion codes and communications.

The emergence of a single market and investment area paradigm in East Africa is clearly in evidence with the progressive realization of co-operation in various social fields, including research, human resources, promotion of Kiswahili as a lingua franca, and science and technology development, co-operation in political affairs, regional defence and security and co-ordination of foreign policy. Similarly, progress has been made in the promotion of capital investments with the identification and development of various regional infrastructure projects cutting across roads, railways, energy, civil aviation, posts and telecommunications, energy and the Lake Victoria Development Programme.

As the EAC integration process deepens, the primary objective remains to reinforce a common East African identity within the vision of a fully integrated East Africa, where there shall be guaranteed movement of the factors of production. This is the critical deepening stage of the Community and it largely hinges on the establishment of the Common Market whose heart lies in securing the free movement of persons, labour, capital, services and the right of establishment and residence.

As the public discourse about the Political Federation did bring out, there is, no doubt, a great deal of sensitivity and complexity attached to some or many of the issues that come before you for negotiation. I believe though, that with skilful negotiations, in which the spirit of give and take and always having the bigger picture about the inevitability of the future as globalization intensifies, would prevail. As such, you would definitely come out with a winning formula that takes our region forward. Importantly, you will need to consult a broad spectrum of EAC stakeholders as well as promote effective publicity to ensure support and broad ownership of the final product that meets the support and comfort of all citizens of the EAC fraternity.

Whichever way our perceptions and understanding lead us to, in so far as the EAC Common Market is concerned, it is crucial to appreciate that it fundamentally focuses on unlocking the vast potential of our region. This it can do by boosting productivity through promotion of investments, industries and trade as well as social and cultural interactions among the people, taking into account the region’s common heritage, and the rich and varied natural resource base that offers great scope for deepening development.

This is the context in which the negotiations on the Common Market are taking place, in a highly transparent and facilitative atmosphere, and at a time when, I believe, the EAC Partner States have built significant confidence and appreciate more clearly the benefits of deeper integration. I am thus confident, that unlike in the negotiations process on adopting the East African Community Customs Union which took over four years (1999 – 2004) to give birth to a positive conclusion, the Common Market negotiations, on the contrary, will be able to move more swiftly towards a conclusion that will indeed usher in a new height and light of development for our people.

With these remarks, I thank you for attention and wish this High Level Task Force great success.

Thank you"

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